Originally Posted by
Meester proach
Who cares which is busier, that’s not my....problem.
what I do care about is standard RT at a pace I can understand , and a controller that has a basic grasp of aerodynamics, gravity and stabilised criteria
There was nothing non-standard about the Controller's phraseology nor were her transmissions garbled. Responding to her instruction with a simple "Unable" followed by an answer to her question would be considered good, standard RT, however. That didn't happen.
What's most amusing about this non-event is the way 1 particular BA pilot's feathers getting ruffled in NY is elevated to Big Deal status and used as catalyst to vent every moan or gripe about US Controllers, the US ATC system in general, and even CBP officers as it pertains to "mindset" while at the same time pumping the tires of everywhere else, pretending that's where perfection exists and all conditions are equal, believing nobody knows any better.
Myself, I've been criss-crossing the globe my entire career, been based outside the U.S. for the last 20 in Europe, Middle East, and Asia operating in and out the long-haul hubs plus many more large and small, and find the idea everything is so wonderful out there in the world but the U.S. falls flat by comparison incredibly funny. London controllers are good, but let's not pretend NY can be worked in exactly the same manner, or that imperfections and things not happening exactly the way we'd like them to don't exist in even the long-haul destinations like Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Paris, etc etc., let alone the rest.
There are few places one doesn't have to adapt to local procedures, imperfect/weird communications, and differences with ICAO. Anyone who's ever been spanked by Oz ATC for not reporting they are "maintaining" a FL when switching to a new freq (the mere absence of a "climbing" or "descending" won't do) or not transmitting a confirmation of a Chinese controller's confirmation of radar contact can tell you that. The amount of "Charlie Charlie" heard on the HF varies depending on the continent, as does using "Romeo" or "Lima" to denote Right or Left course offsets yet nobody is using "Romeo" or "Lima" in place of "Right" and" Left" when it comes to heading vectors, taxi instructions, or runway designators.
All these these funny things and more important, procedural differences exist out there. Far worse controlling certainly does. If I got indigent or upset every time a non-US controller asked to make impossible rate descents-while-slowing or gave crap vectors to intercept something I'd have to carry around a couple steel balls to fidget with like a stressed-out Captain Queeg.